A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky.
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Thursday, January 08, 2015

FCC chair favors President Obama's net-neutrality stance, reclassifying broadband as a public utility

Federal Communications Commission chairman Tom Wheeler, whose stance on net-neutrality has not always appeared to be in step with President Obama's, said they were on the same page during a speech this week at the 2015 International CES tech trade show, Tony Romm reports for Politico. "Wheeler repeatedly hinted he favors reclassification of broadband as a public utility, which would subject Internet providers to some of the same rules that govern old phone companies."

"Obama late last year publicly endorsed the tougher approach of treating
broadband like a utility—a move that put pressure on the FCC to change
course," Romm writes. "But Wheeler insisted Wednesday that he and his team had last
summer realized his initial proposal wouldn’t work—and were already
proceeding down the path of looking at Title II."

Wheeler said a vote on the net-neutrality proposal was set for Feb. 26, Romm writes. Congressional Republicans do not favor the proposal, though a large portion of the public has expressed support for net-neutrality.

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This blog generally follows traditional journalistic standards. It's not about opinions, though you may read one here occasionally. It's about facts that we think will be useful to rural journalists, non-rural journalists who do rural stories, and others interested in rural issues. We don't try to be provocative, so we don't generate as many comments as most blogs with the level of traffic we have, but we certainly invite comments -- and contributions, to al.cross@uky.edu. Feel free to republish blog items, with credit to us and the original source.